Tag: nintendo switch

Why would I call one of my favorite pieces of tech “debatably” trusty? Because in all fairness, the battery should not have expanded like that after only a year and a half. Thankfully, after being quoted by the repairs depot at Apple for nearly $800, the Apple Store was willing to work with me and found a program that was able to override the $800 repair price to $0. I am eternally grateful to the crew at the Apple Store for helping me out.

During the week I was “fruitless” (I know that was a bad pun; it’s been a long week,) I was at first, working on my i3 Surface Pro 3, but the poor little thing couldn’t handle my propensity to have more than 5 tabs open, as well as Discord, at any given time. However, I’d gotten a refurbished Dell Latitude E6430S a year or so ago, not only as a backup, but to keep me up to date on cross-platform knowledge, play some PC-only games, and to be honest, it was less than $100 online at Tanga.com (This isn’t an affiliate link, it’s just a link.)

I’m not the biggest fan of Windows. That doesn’t necessarily paint me as an Apple Fangirl or anything. Macbook Pro aside, all my Apple products are pretty old – iPhone 6S+, Apple Watch 1st Gen and my mom has my old MBP from 2013.

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I very rarely purchase “new” tech. My father was a mechanic for about 300 years, and always taught me to never trust the first release of a new model of anything (in his reference, new cars,) a statement that I feel rings more true now than it did when Little Me wanted an original Game Boy.

New tech nowadays tends to be riddled with flaws – in hardware, it could be manufacturing issues due to rushed production or design research, or in software, bugs that didn’t get enough time in quality assurance. I play a lot of video games and every time a new game releases, there’s always a “Day One” patch to fix whatever bugs were found between the end of production and release.

What my father instilled in me (in regards to new top-of-the-line products) is that patience is key. Wait until the bugs are all squashed and if you still can’t live without it, wait a bit more in case of a price drop. We weren’t rich by any means, so generally if I wanted something expensive, it’d require a ton of odd jobs that Little Me would do for a few bucks, such as attempting to “help” my parents around the house. (Usually this ended in me being told by one parent to go “help” the other one when my “helping” had significantly risen their blood pressure.)

When I wasn’t being the helping-est helper that ever helped, Little Me had lots of time to do research on things I wanted. I didn’t have Internet until I was 14, so a lot of that research involved asking my friends or watching TV or dragging my parents to the store to go “look” at the thing I wanted. (Including the one time I got sick from playing the Virtual Boy demo console!)

That inquisitiveness never subsided and I think it’s a good thing. I’ll spend anywhere from a few days to months to years (in the case of researching pets,) to make sure that the product I’m looking at fits my needs both in the present and will last.

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As promised, here is a blast of mini reviews of the tech I’ve got and use regularly. Some of which will be familiar, others may not. (Amazon Affiliate links ahoy!) I may do full reviews on some of these products later.

32″ Samsung LED TV: (Samsung no longer makes this model so I won’t be linking it.) I originally purchased it 5-6 years ago off of woot.com for about $160 refurbished. I use it as a TV for my gaming consoles and as a second display for my computer. My computer set-up is located next to my bed, so having a big display when watching YouTube videos or writing blogs or reading an ebook is great.

Razer Cynosa Chroma keyboard: I like Razer’s products, for the most part. I do feel they’re a bit overpriced, but sometimes, you can find some really great deals on them, (such as the current $15 price drop on the Cynosa.) I particularly like this keyboard because it’s not as “clicky-clacky” as traditional mechanical keyboards. It’s also spill-resistant, which is awesome, especially because I have a tendency to eat at my computer, (don’t judge me – in fact, I’m currently drinking 4C Totally Light 2 Go Fruit Punch right now.)

Razer Spectre Starcraft II Gaming Mouse: No link because Razer no longer makes it, but their Deathadder line is comparable. I’m linking the Razer Deathadder Elite because it’s currently $30 off.

Apple iPhone 6S Plus: I’ve had this phone now for about 4 years and I haven’t had a need to replace it. I did recently take advantage of the 2018 battery replacement program, because the battery was shot, but other than that, it’s served me quite well. I would like to upgrade to an iPhone X eventually, but there are a few things that are keeping me from pulling the trigger, such as the lack of a headphone jack.

Nintendo Switch: (Full disclosure – I purchased my Switch pre-owned, using rewards coupons and my employee discount from my current part-time employer.) I’ll go more in-depth on video games later, but I wanted to point out that I like the Switch both for its portability and the ease of transitioning between handheld tablet mode and TV mode. I’m not a fan of motion controls, but for the most part they can be avoided. Also, I’m fully prepared for my next Pokemon fix. 😀

Logitech G933 Artemis Spectrum Wireless Gaming Headset: I originally started out with the G633 Wired Headset, but eventually switched to Wireless after 2 replacements from Logitech Customer Service (who were fantastic, by the way.) As of now, I still have a new-in-box G633 just sitting around because I don’t know what to do with it right now. Anyway, I primarily use my headset for chatting on Discord or watching movies at night, but the sound quality is great and like Razer’s Synapse, Logitech’s Gaming Software works well with both Mac and Windows.

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I’m thankful to have my computer back. I had lots of things planned to blog and will be back to my 3x week posting moving forward. I’m looking for another job, as my hours were cut (due to the holiday being over,) so I can do have a more stable income to support myself, my cats and continue to try new things to test and explore.

Thanks to everyone who’s taken the time to read my blogs thus far and thank you for joining me on these adventures.